The Wilson Feeder Pattern Community Working Group (CWG) met January 25th, 2018. In this meeting, representatives from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education shared an update on the Master Facilities Plan (MFP) including goals for the MFP, differences from earlier MFPs, and aiming to share the final version by summer 2018.

Additionally, the group discussed next steps for the CWG, including the review and drafting of the summary document that will be used to capture the group’s feedback and conversations. Notes and our presentation are here.

Eliot-Hine took their first of three DCIAA sponsored field trips today with 14 students and two coaches attend. The students had a wide range of abilities with some being excellent skiers, others had only skied on school-sponsored trips, and a handful had never been on skis before.

While the newbies took their first lesson, the experienced skiers took the rest to re-acclimate them to the mountain. They patiently took them down the smaller slopes until they were comfortable going on the longer runs. Early in the day Malia slowly took Katora down her first long run so that she felt safe and confident on the mountain. Later that day she and I ran into Katora “rescuing” two others in our crew helping them make their way to the finish. The kids were enthusiastic, resilient, and supportive of each other. It was a wonderful day!

We look forward to bringing back current skiers and welcome any new ones for our trip on February 23rd!

Good luck on your next trip, Eliot-Hine ski club! We can’t wait to see photos of you all on the slopes!

Thanks to everyone who attended our most recent Community Working Group (CWG) meeting on January 31st at the high school. The school planning team along with the college and career programs team were excited to share some updates about what students and families can expect at Coolidge High School beginning in School Year 2019-2020 when it will open its new building with a new high school program defined by three academies: Health sciences, mass media, and a new, selective early college program.

The community working group also had an opportunity to hear from the facilities and planning team about updates on the modernization of the building that is slated to begin in a few weeks and will complete in August 2019. We had special guests from the architect and design firms who showed the group, the color schemes of the tiles, hallways and classrooms of both the High School and the new Middle School. They also received and overall timeline of the construction project.

Moving forward the school planning team will continue to engage and get input from a wide variety of stakeholders in the spring to include school staff, family and community members at Coolidge HS and its feeder education campuses at Brightwood EC, Takoma EC, LaSalle-Backus EC and Whittier EC.

The school planning team will work with school leadership and the DCPS Office of Family and Public Engagement to identify and plan future spring engagement events. Stay tuned to this blog for updates. You can also follow us on twitter @DCPSPlanning and @BAlexanderLeads. You can also contact us by e-mail at dcps.planning@dc.gov and brian.alexander@dc.gov.

The Wilson Feeder Pattern Community Working Group (CWG) met in November for our fifth meeting. In this meeting, the Strategic School Planning Team shared additional analysis and gathered feedback on several options raised by the group. We also shared a draft of the outline for the summary document that will be used to capture the group’s feedback and conversations. You can view the draft summary outline and the full presentation here.

A few members of the Junk Art Club (7th graders) with their completed storm drain design!

The storm drains around Eliot-Hine and Eastern High School recently got a face lift! Last fall, the Anacostia Watershed Society put out a call for designs to paint storm drains around the city. Eliot-Hine’s Junk Art Club was one of 20 winners chosen from more than 140 designs submitted! Come check out their winning piece directly across the street from the front doors of Eliot-Hine on Constitution Avenue. There are seven other winning designs on storm drains near Eliot-Hine MS and Eastern HS. All 20 winning designs can be seenhere.

The mural designs were chosen based on their connection to the Anacostia River, the local community, and watershed protection issues. The Junk Art Club’s design was based on the Michael Jackson song Man in the Mirror. The design is painted on a blue background that represents the Anacostia River. A black silhouette of Michael Jackson looks down on the storm drain manhole cover that is painted a metallic silver. The words “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. Michael Jackson,” are written in black.

Closer look at the Michael Jackson inspired storm drain, encouraging others to “change his ways” from the Man in the Mirror

The Junk Art Club chose their design because virtually all of the litter that finds its way into the Anacostia River comes from people littering. Preventing littering from entering storm sewers is one of the most effective ways to reduce the trash found in the Anacostia River. The Michael Jackson song Man in the Mirror asks people to look “in the mirror” at what they do with waste once they have finished using, e.g., a bottle or a candy wrapper, and if they do litter it encourages them to “change their ways.” Will you join Eliot-Hine in changing your ways and creating a #trashfreedc?

The Junk Art Club received a $750 stipend from the Anacostia Watershed Society for their artwork, and donated the stipend to the Eliot-Hine Parent Teacher Organization at their December 2017 meeting. Thank you to Eliot-Hine’s environmentally conscious and community service driven students paving the way to a better place for all of us!

Eliot-Hine MS 7th grade students capped off their recent English Language Arts cornerstone unit, My Warrior Self, with a trip to the Newseum to see the civil rights exhibit about the tumultuous events leading up to 1968, when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Cornerstonesare powerful lessons that students engage in through the DCPS units of study. This particular cornerstone unit involved reading the memoir Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, exploring what makes a warrior and how their own definition has shifted, preparing a display about a “warrior” they know, and visiting the civil rights exhibit at the Newseum.

In Warriors Don’t Cry, the 7th graders learned about the nine teenagers who were chosen to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957. The memoir describes the dignity and courage the nine teenagers showed throughout their year at Central High School when they were on the front lines of the efforts to integrate our nations’ schools. To relate the book to their own lives, the students chose a “warrior” they know, and prepared a display board describing how their “warrior” took a stand to fight for what is right. At the Newseum, the students watched and discussed a documentary about how civil rights activists harnessed the power of the news media to bring about social change. All of the activities in this unit are intended to provide the students with insights about how to be resilient, and persevere through inevitable challenges they will face in life.

We love to see Eliot-Hine students making real-world connections through engaging in rigorous content! To learn more about the DCPS Cornerstones Initiative, check out their website which includes libraries of examples for each subject,